Why a Booktrail?
1980s: Two men travel across 1980’s together. Only one survives to tell the tale
The Killing of Butterfly Joe
What you need to know before your trail
Llew Jones wanted to see the States and write about the experience. Then he met Joe Bosco, a butterfly salesman as charismatic as he is infuriating, and they were soon hurtling across 1980s America together, caught up in an adventure that got way, way out of control. Now Llew is in jail, his friend is gone, and he has to give his side of the story if he’s ever going to get free . . .
Part existential road trip, part neo-gothic thriller, part morality tale. An epic story of friendship, desire, and participating in the Great American Dream – ‘the one that leads from rags to riches via pitches’ – whatever the consequences.
Travel Guide
BookTrail some roadtrip travel with Butterfly Joe
The roadtrip is all about buying and selling butterflies and the two guys visit several places to try and sell what they have. They stop in some small towns and even smaller settlements by the long American highways. They get arrested and questioned, have adventures of all kinds along the way.
Welcome to the butterfly world of Butterfly Joe
Starting off in the Catkills, this is where the journey and story starts. The house is an old ramshackle mansion in the woods which used to belong to an arms manufacturer. The whole family are oddballs – Edith, sister Isabelle, and the various waifs and strays that have been taken in over the years .
They set out on a roaddtrip and head to Ithaca, Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario, Rochester, Centerville and a through Sioux Falls before heading back to New York via the Alexander Hamilton bridge.
There’s a lot of looking out the car window onto small town America in the 1980s…
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Killing of Butterfly Joe
Destination: New York State Author/guide: The Killing of Butterfly Joe Departure Time: 1980s
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